As of late

As usual, our random tid bits as of late:

-When Hana goes to the bathroom for her digestive movements, she likes to take her dandy time. She sings loudly, talks to herself, sometimes brings picture books...at times she's sitting on the toilet for a good 10 minutes?! (Again, patience is key around here for me.) [Sorry if it's TMI.]
This morning before we needed to head out the door for work and preschool, Hana was sitting on the toilet with the door closed.
Daniel needed to use the bathroom to brush his teeth as well, so he knocked on the door and said,
Daniel: Hana? Can I come in?
Hana: No!
Daniel: Oh...well, finish quickly then!
Daniel comes back to the living room to do something else.
me: This is what's going to happen even more when she gets older.
Daniel: That's why we need 2 bathrooms! Now, I understand.

Strange epiphanies. :D

最近の我が家の出来事：

・はなが長い方のトイレに行きたい時、えらい長い間トイレに閉じこもっています。大声で歌ったり、一人芝居をしてたり（苦笑）、絵本を読んでたり。時には１０分くらいトイレの上に座っています。（なんで？！）今朝も幼稚園に行く前にトイレのドアを閉めて、閉じこもっていました。
ダニエルも珍しく朝早く起きていて、歯磨きをしたく、トイレのドアをノックしながら、
ダニエル：はな、入ってもいい？
はな：NO!
ダニエル：え、あ、じゃあ、早く出てきてよ！
そう言ってまたリビングに戻って来たとき、
私：はなが大きくなればなるほど、もっとこうなって行くよ。
ダニエル：だから、トイレは２ついるんだ！ようやく分かったよ。

トイレ１つだと色々ありますね。（苦笑）



















-When Hana gets pins and needles in her feet, she uses an interesting phrase in Japanese. She always tells me, "My feet are sparkling! My feet are sparkling!"
'Sparkling' is a unique way to express that her feet are tingling, but it definitely gets the point across.

・はなの足がしびれる時、面白い表現をします。どこからこの言い方を覚えたのかは分かりませんが、いつも「はなの足がピカピカする！ピカピカするよ～！」とベソをかきながら訴えます。
不思議ですが、「足がピカピカする」と言っても、ちゃんと意味が伝わるんですよね。



















-At random moments, Hana will all of a sudden tell me,
"I'm going to play with #2 soon! We're going to play rock, papers, and scissors!"
"When #2 comes, I'm going to change his diaper, change his clothes, and take care of him!"

But of course, the jealously bug does strike. As I was folding some boy hand me down clothes I've received, Hana irritatingly kept stepping on them and jumping on them and grunting, "ffun, ffun, ffuuun."

Hehe. :D
Oh well. I can still hope that they do form a close bond despite their age gap.

時々、はなが何か思いついた時に、私に、
「はなは弟と一杯遊ぶんだ！ジャンケンポンをしたりするんだ～！」
「弟が生まれたら、はなオムツを替えてあげたり、洋服を着替えさせてあげたり、一杯してあげるんだ～！」と嬉しく言ってくれます。
でも、もちろん嫉妬心もあるみたいです。先日、お友達から男の子のお洋服を頂き、それを畳んでいたら、はなはそれに飛び乗ったりしながら、「ふんだ、ふんだ、ふ～ん」と言ってましたからね。（笑）
まあ、はなも色々な思いを持ちながらお姉ちゃんになって行くんでしょうね。４歳以上年が離れちゃいますが、仲良しな姉弟になってくれたらなと願っています。















Wow, it's hard to believe we're approaching March soon...the start of busy season around here. (Oh yeah, and someone will be turning the big 3-0 soon around here! :D)
Well, hopefully we'll make it through...there's a lot to do before June!

もう来週から３月なんて信じられません。
やっぱり１月は行って、２月は逃げて、３月は去っていきますね…
３月になると、なぜかいつも多忙の時期に入る我が家。今年も例年と変わらず忙しくなりそうです。
６月までにやる事が一杯ありますが、なんとかなるのかな？



















A rare mama, Hana, and #2 (@ 24 week) picture together.

たまにはママとはなと長男君（妊娠２４週目）の３人写真です。

The little things about being pregnant

-One big difference I've noticed between teaching adults and children may be their curiosity level. When I was pregnant with Hana, my second grade ESL students would make comments about my tummy becoming bigger or ask questions about my life.
But working with Chinese adults the past 1.5 years, they're much more reserved in asking questions or making different statements (unless I ask/pry/bring it out of them), probably due to cultural tendencies/social etiquette and language barriers.

At 23 weeks pregnant though, there's no denying that my midsection has gotten bigger.
Since none of my students have asked up until this point about whether I was pregnant, and there was no segue/opportunity to share my news during my lessons, I never bothered to tell them either.
But as I taught, I could especially sense my female students gazing at my tummy and probably pondering, "Is she or isn't she?"

Today after class though, one of my more outspoken female students finally came up to me, put her arm around me, and asked, "Teacher? Do you have baby?"
(In NYC, I was Ms. T. In Chicago Chinatown, I'm either Teacher or Kim. No Mrs. Kim or Megumi. Can't win with my name difficulty with ESL speakers. :D)

There were about 4 or 5 other female students in my classroom still, and I said with much relief, "Yes! I am having a baby!"
All of my students gleefully responded in their Chinese accented, "Congalushashion!"
And of course, being Chinese they were even happier when they heard it was a boy.
"Teacher, now you have daughter and son! Is good! Is very good!" (Apparently, in Chinese culture, it's a good combination to have a girl and a boy.)

And then all the ladies started to exclaim and share with me,
"I have three daughters! No boy!"
"Me only have one son!'
"I see you first time, I think you having baby!"
"Oh, I thought you have baby!"

I guess I should've just let in on my not so secret a long time ago. :D

小学校で２年間英語を教えて、中国人の大人に英語を教えて１年半が経ちます。大人と子供に英語を教える時に一つ大きい違いを感じるのは「好奇心」です。はなを妊娠していた頃、私の２年生の生徒達はよく私のお腹の変化に気づいたり、質問したりしました。でも、やっぱり大人になると（特にアジア系）はそこまで根掘り葉掘りと質問はしてきません。（そこまで英語力もないのも現実ですが…）
でも妊娠２３週目になって、誰が見ても絶対腹の中に何かいると否めない体型。
それでも、私の生徒達は「先生、妊娠してるんですか？」とも聞いてこないし、別に英語を教えてる途中に発表する気もありませんでした。
でも、教えてる間、必ず感じるんです。特に私のおばちゃん生徒達の視線が黒板よりお腹辺りに行ってることが！（笑）
そして、今日。
授業が終わった後、一人のおしゃべりなおばちゃん生徒が私のところにやってきて、私に腕をまわして、つたない英語で、「先生？赤ちゃんいるの？」とやっと聞いて来ました。（笑）
「そう、お腹の中に赤ちゃんがいます！」とやっと堂々と答えられました。
まだ教室に他のおばちゃん生徒達が４、５人いて、皆に祝福して頂きました。やっぱり、中国人なので、男の子だと言ったら更に喜んでもらいました。（苦笑）
やっと秘密（にしてたつもりはなかったんですが）を明かした後、おばちゃん生徒達が一斉に自分のお話を始めました。
「私なんか、娘３人よ！男の子が生まれなかったのよ～。」
「私なんか一人しかいないわ。」
「先生を初めて見たときから妊娠してると思ったわ！」
やっぱりバレバレだったんですね。（笑）
ちなみに、中国では「好」と言う漢字を、女の子と男の子を生むのは「良い」と言う意味らしいです。各文化と漢字って色々な意味があるんですね。

-I was giving Hana a manicure and a pedicure today. It's getting much harder to bend over and to paint her little toes as Hana fidgets around everywhere.

今日ははなにマネキュアとペデキュアをしてあげていたら、かがみながらはなの小さい足に色を塗るのが段々大変になってきました。ふ～、もうすぐでダダのお仕事になるのかな？



















-#2 is becoming quite a kicker/puncher? He seems more active at night. I hope he's not a night owl like his father. Whenever I try to peer down on my stomach to see if I could see his legs and arms coming out, he always stops. Of course.

長男君はどんどん力強く蹴ったり、パンチしたりしてます。いつも蹴ってる所を見ようとしたら必ず止まっちゃいます。彼の活発な時間帯は夕方から夜です。たまに私が寝るときまで蹴ってるので、ダニエルみたいに夜型派になるんでしょうか？（苦笑）




[Daniel with his Valentine's Day homemade chocolate tart...1/4 of it gone in one sitting....yikes!

バレンタインの為にチョコレートタルトを作りました。な、なんと、ダニエル、１回で1/4個も食べてしまいました。やば～い！（苦笑）]









-Tomorrow is my glucose test. Agh. I hate this part of pregnancy. My diet with #2 has been less than ideal compared to when I was pregnant with Hana. All #2 seems to want is greek yogurt with chocolate chips and tuna salad sandwiches drenched with mayonnaise. Ick.
Well, hopefully I'll pass. If I don't, sigh. One more worry to add on the list of being pregnant.





[Hana also enjoying the chocolate tart on Valentine's Day. :D

はなももちろんチョコタルトを喜んで食べてました。甘党の家族。]

Hiragana completed!

Coincidentally, as Hana turned 3 years and 10 months old (46 months) today, she completed her first Japanese alphabet. All 46 letters!

偶然にも今日はなが３歳１０ヶ月になった同じ日にひらがなの勉強を完了しました～。


















Way to go, Hana~!! (Working on our last letter below)

はなさん、ご苦労様でした～！（「ゆ」が最後の文字でした）












These past 10 months, we've gone through 3 sketch books and all sorts of worksheets to practice our letters together.

この１０ヶ月間、スケッチブック３冊分と色んなプリントを使って頑張ってきました。













-It was certainly a process of sorts.
From April to June, I had language support through the Japanese cultural class we used to go to on Wednesday mornings. (click for post)
But from July on, I was all on my own, and I did feel a huge burden.
At first, Hana was timid in exploring new letters. (click for post)
But by the end of summer, Hana was starting to grasp the whole writing concept.
And she has thrived in her learning.

I think the main reason we were actually able to finish the entire Japanese alphabet was Hana's constant, "Mama, can we do pencils today?"
You'd think it'd be the opposite of me pushing her to learn Japanese, but it was really all Hana's own motivation.
And I'm very, very thankful for that.

去年の４月～６月までは大好きだったたんぽぽ会でひらがなを勉強していました（その時の記事はココ）。でも、７月からは夏休みやはなの幼稚園でたんぽぽ会に行けなくなり、急にひらがなの勉強は私のみの責任という重荷を背負う羽目に。最初の頃ははなは自分で書くことに躊躇していました（その時の記事はココ）。夏の終わり頃には段々ひらがなを書くことに自信が少しづつついてきて、今まで来れました。本当にひらがなの勉強を完了出来たのははなが常に、「ママ、今日えんぴつする？」と聞いてくれたからです。はなのモチベーションによって私も励まされました。
はなの努力に感謝。












-Since the Japanese alphabet Hana just learned is phonetic, she wants to read things more and more. She began to show interest in reading around August of 2011, but she didn't start to pick up the concept more until a few months later in November/December.
Obviously, she can't read an entire book yet, but when she's in the mood, she likes to read a sentence or two from the book we're reading.

去年の８月位からはなは日本語を書くだけではなく、読むことにもどんどん興味を持ち始めました。でも１１月か１２月頃からひらがなで書いてある物をもうちょっと積極的に読むようになりました。もちろん、まだ１冊の本なんて読めませんが、もしその気になったら、絵本の１文か２文ほどは読んでくれたりします。



















-Hana's had this Hello Kitty Japanese alphabet book since 2 years ago. It lets you learn each sound and a word of the alphabet. It also has games that lets you push the letter buttons to become the word the book tells you to make.
Maybe around last month, this game finally started to click with Hana.
This video was taken at the end of January when Hana was playing the game briefly before bedtime.

はなはキティーちゃんの声が出るひらがなの絵本を２年ほど前から持っています。ひらがなを楽しく学べて、はなはこの本が大好き。ひらがなを習得すれば、しりとりや字を繋げて言葉にするゲームなどもあります。今年の１月くらいから字を繋げて言葉にするゲームをやっと理解しはじめたはな。そのゲームを遊んでる様子の短い動画です。



Well, one alphabet down. Another bazillion more letters to go in the Japanese language! Like I always say, we'll see how far we can keep going. :D

いつも言いますが、どれくらいはなと日本語を一緒に勉強して行けるか分かりませんが、これからもボチボチと頑張っていきます。さあ、次はカタカナかな？それか小さい「っ」「ゃ」「ゅ」「ょ」の復習かな？あ～、日本語には切りがありません～～～。（笑）

Keep going...

Oh, terrible 3's. You are so much more painful than I expected.
Day after day after day, many, many, many conversations these days begins or ends with a tantrum or some sort of battle with words.

At times like these, I often feel abandoned. Defeated. Desperately alone in my struggles.
But I have to keep remembering that God is refining me daily as a parent through all of this. (Man, is it painful!)
As easy as it would be to write with a negative taint to my blog posts, I will not.
I need to not forget the happy moments in this time of my life.

So I keep going.



















-"When I grow up I'm going to become a princess and marry a prince!" This is one of Hana's favorite things to say these days. I should add that Hana has never actually seen a Disney movie in her life yet, so I'm always surprised at these comments.
Also, when she grows up, she must wear red lipstick too. (like Snow White) :D Actually, Hana has been begging to be allowed to put on red lipstick, but Dada drew the line on that one. Daniel's limit is apparently at nail polish when your daughter is only 3 years old. ;P

はなの「魔の３歳」はまだ続いていて、落ち込む事も多々ありますが、でも今この時期にしか起きないはなの成長ぶりを忘れないために書き留めておきます。
これが最近の我が家の出来事です：

・はなはお姫様が大好き。
「大きくなったら、はな、お姫様になるんだ！王子様と結婚するんだ！」と言うのがもうほぼ口癖。（苦笑）ディズニー映画をまだ実際観た事もないのに、こういう発言を一体どこから覚えてくるんだろう？もう１つはなにとって大事なポイントは大きくなったら赤いリップ（口紅）をする事。本当は今でもしたがって、「赤いリップ買って～！」とせがむ事もありますが、ダダが駄目と言ったので、仕方ありません。ダニエルは３歳の娘にはマネキュアまではいいみたいですが、お化粧はまだ早すぎるみたいです。（笑）













-Mama's a princess, too! I have earrings, a crown, and even a lovely flower dress. In Japanese, it's written "Megumi mama." Hehe.

・ママもお姫様です！イヤリングも冠も可愛いお花のドレスまで。「めぐみまま」と書いてくれたのがなぜか笑えます。













-Another daily conversation besides her fascination with princesses is her BIRTHDAY!!!!
April can't seem to come soon enough!
Ever since last September or so, we've had the privilege to attend quite a few birthday parties for Hana's friends, so the anticipation for her own just keeps building and building.
Hana likes to remind me everyday with, "I'm going to be 4 years old in April!" and "I want a BIG cake and a BIG present!"
Hana is very fortunate to be able to expect such blessings. :D
Our family is never extravagant on birthdays, but since it is Hana's last birthday as an only child, it would be nice to do something a bit more special. We'll see.

・お姫様以外に多い話題ははなのお誕生日！！！
もう４月が早く来て欲しくてたまらないはな。去年の９月以降から何人かのお友達のお誕生日会に参加させて頂いたので、その楽しさに影響されて、自分のがどんどん待ち遠しくなってる様子。
「はなは４月で４歳になるんだよ！」と「おお～きいケーキとおお～きいプレゼントが欲しいんだ～！」と常にはしゃいでます。盛大に祝ったりはしませんが、こうやって自分のお誕生日に期待が持てるって恵まれてますよね。（笑）
今年は一人っ子として最後のお誕生日。少しは特別にできたらなと考えています…（どうなるかな？）


















-Speaking of #2, I'll be 23 weeks tomorrow. #2 has started to make his presence known by coming out more and more. Daniel was finally able to feel the little guy kick at 22 weeks. Hana hasn't quite felt it yet, but she likes to talk to #2 sometimes these days in Japanese:
"Good morning #2, today is such a lovely day!"
"Good night #2!"
"How are you doing, #2?"

The sweetest thing Hana has started to do these days is to pray for her brother every night. It seems likes it's more jumbled sentences chained together, but still. At least God understands. :D
More often than not, her usual prayer goes like this in Japanese:
"Dear God, Thank you for this day. Thank you for being with #2. #2 is happy. Dada is happy. Mama is happy. Hana is happy too. God is happy too. Thank you thank you for protecting us today. Amen."

I hope Hana's love for #2 continues to expand until she meets him in June, Lord willing.

私も明日で妊娠２３週目です。長男もどんどん出っ張ってきてます。何日か前にダニエルも初めて長男の胎動を感じました。はなはまだ胎動を感じていませんが、最近弟と会話をしてくれます。
「おはよう、弟君！今日はとっても良いお天気だよ！」や「おやすみ、弟君」や「弟君、元気？」と簡単な会話ですが、はななりの思いやりでしょうね。後、も う１つはなが毎晩してくれるのは、弟の為にお祈りしてくれる事です。たまに何を言いたいのか不明な上、長いですが、まあ、神様は理解してくれてるので、良いで しょう。（笑）体外はなのお祈りはこんな感じです：
「神様、今日の一日をありがとうございます。弟君と共にいて下さりありがとうございます。弟君は嬉しいです。ダダも嬉しいです。ママも嬉しいです。はなも嬉しいです。神様も嬉しいです。どうかどうか守ってくださりありがとうございます（？）。アーメン。」

これからもはなが弟に対する愛情がどんどん大きくなることを願っています。













-Phew. Last thing. For the first time, I have been experiencing this "nesting mode" many pregnant women talk about. I've been de-cluttering, re-organizing, and purging everywhere. The first thing that went was Hana's beloved girl clothes that we've used for the past 3 years. It went to good homes. Actually, I'm truly hoping that the ultrasound technician didn't make a mistake about #2's sex. If on the day of labor we find out #2 is a girl, well, we're in trouble! :D

・長くなりましたが、最後に。安定期に入ったせいなのか、近い内にまた引越しをしなくてはいけないからか、とにかく色々な場所を整理整頓中。普通は掃除とかが大嫌いなので、こうやって整理整頓のやる気スイッチが入ってる間になるべくやろうとしています。ちょっと切なかったのが、３年間使ってきたはなの服とのお別れ。服を年齢別に分けて、知り合いやお友達に配りました。
でも、これでエコーが間違ってて、本当は女の子だった！？となったら、笑い事じゃないですよね！まあ、エコーが間違ってないといいんですけど？！

Hiragana and Anpanman drawings

Hana and I have been slowly but surely chugging along in our Japanese alphabet these past 10 months. Only 3 more letters to go and we'll complete our first Japanese alphabet! :D
We usually practice new letters with some worksheets, and then review all of the letters by making words that Hana knows or enjoys.

I try to make it fun and look for stickers or characters Hana would enjoy writing about.
Of course, Anpanman characters are always a favorite.
On Anpanman's Japanese website, there's actually an entire list of different characters in alphabetical order. We've been writing out the names of some of those characters that Hana's seen on TV and drawing/coloring them out.

We've done this many times in the past, but the thing that was different this time around was Hana wanted to mimic my drawing after I drew the Anpanman characters.
I've mentioned before that Hana really loves to mimic her drawings from various books or the internet or from me these days.

These are all different characters from the animation. (It's hard to explain the names of the characters in English when they're made out of food or objects...) Hana mimicked her drawing from both the picture on the internet and mine.
I was most surprised at how Hana captured each character and their details pretty well. :D





（左）「ふるどけいさん」
（右）「フランケンロボ」


















（左）「ちゃわんむしまろ」
（右）「さくらもちねえさん」
















「ジャムおじさん」












はなと一緒にひらがなの勉強を始めてもう１０ヶ月が過ぎました。ゆっくり、マイペースですが、後３文字（「あ」、「ゆ」、「を」）でひらがなの勉強を完了！
毎日「えんぴつ」の時間を設けたり、設けなかったりですが、出来る時はなるべく楽しくひらがなを勉強できるように心掛けてるつもりです。
色んなシールを貼ってその言葉を書き出したり、好きなアニメのキャラクターの名前（主にアンパンマンとドラえもん）を書いて、その絵を描いて、色を塗ったりしています。

アンパンマンの公式ウェブサイトに行けば、登場するキャラクター達がひらがな順で載っているんです。よくそれを見ながら、私がそのキャラクターの絵を描いて、はなが名前を書きます。（本当は多くのキャラクターはカタカナの名前ですが、今はひらがなで書かせています。）
でも、今回違ったのは、私がアンパンマンの仲間のキャラクターの絵を描き終えた後に必ずはなも真似て絵を描きたがる事でした。
私の下手な絵とネットに載ってる絵を見ながらはなは集中して描きました。びっくりしたのは、各キャラクターの表情を上手に掴んでる事です。ひらがなで書いたことより、はなの絵にかなり感動してしまった母。（苦笑）
でも、はなのひらがなもかなり上達しました。ひらがなを覚えるスピードもかなり速くなりました。

でも、ひらがなの勉強が終わっても、今度はカタカナが待ってる…その後は漢字…
あ～、一生終わらない！（笑）
（私の日本語も完璧じゃないのに…）
どこまで私が挫折せずに教えられて、はなが挫折せずに一緒に勉強してくれるかにかかってるんでしょうね。まあ、ここまでガミガミ、ピリピリな母と頑張って来てくれたはなにとにかく感謝、感謝です！

Bit by bit

My dear Hana.

What a long, LONG month January has been.
I've mentioned it in passing in one of my last few posts, but we've reached a new stage in Hana's development--the terrible 3's.

Or perhaps, this shouldn't be called the terrible 3's.
Maybe this is the process of growing up. With a strong willed child. :D

During Hana's terrible 2 stage, we experienced many, many tantrums due to her inability to fully communicate. It was also her way of expressing anger when she couldn't have things her way.

This terrible 3 stage seems to have similar elements--she still gets very upset when she doesn't get her way...but I think that's the same for all children at any age. (Or even adults for that matter.)
But there are differences.
Hana's bilingual language abilities have developed by leaps and bounds = no need to arch her back and scream her head off anymore.
But as her language developed though, so has her talking back sass. And her whining.
OH. HOW. SHE. WHINES.

But the biggest difference in my opinion is that at 3.5 years old, Hana has started to construct her own strong, albeit narrow, worldview. With a more concrete way to look at the world around her, one sure way to set off Hana's terrible 3 is when I do something or tell her something that deconstructs one of those beliefs.

For example, Hana recently discovered the fattening tastiness of ranch dressing. With raw carrots. One night, as I gave her some carrots with the ranch dressing, I dropped in a few avocados from my salad as well.
Now, at that time, in Hana's constructed worldview, there was only ONE way to eat ranch dressing. And that was with ONLY raw carrots.
As silly as it sounds, two pieces of avocados in that white blob sent her over the edge.
As an adult, it was shocking, and truth be told, my anger level just about went through the roof to see this kind of reaction.

But patient explanation really seems to be the key to calming Hana down.
Calmly, yet firmly, explain to Hana until she understands.
That there isn't just ONE way to do things,
That there are more appropriate ways to say things.
That there is a right and a wrong.
That there is a reason mama is telling her these things.

There are many, many days where I'm incredibly discouraged.
I doubt everything I've done as a mother.

It's a bit by bit process.
But I guess growing up always is.
So here's to another tomorrow.

あ～、長い１月でした。
最近気づいたんですが、はなは３歳半なりの世界観を築き始めています。その分、私がはなの考え方と異なる行動や言動をとった場合、まあ、最近は大変な騒ぎになる事もあります。
親業はとにかく忍耐。
特にこの１ヶ月間、色んな出来事に関して根気強く、冷静に説明をしながらはなを説得しているような気がします。これからもはなの世界観はどんどん変わっていく一方で、これがその成長の初めの過程として、長い目で見ているつもりです。
でも、やっぱり母親として凹む事も多々あります。
いつも書いていますが、一歩一歩ですね。

Pictures from a 3.5 year old perspective

Hana took some pictures with my small digital camera while we were in the car one late afternoon.
Kid's perspectives are always really random and interesting. :D

先日車に乗ってる間にはなが唐突に私のデジカメで撮った写真かの何枚。子供の視点って面白い。
























Wah! Cross-eyed!

ちょっとこわい～！










That's better. :D (Photo by mama)

ちゃんと顔が見えてる方がいいね。（笑）